Hi, I'm new to this website and wanted to join it. My previous pet forums I went to wasn't really helpful at all.. In this pet forums, it looks like you guys are really helping others out which is great.

Ok, to get to the point, I saw this greyish-black coloured dog by the street near my house. It was so lonely and when I held it and touched the fur, it was kind of smooth but some parts of the fur was tangled. And when I took it home, I bathed it and it wasn't greyish-black coloured at all.. It was white with some black. I just couldn't understand how it became so dirty from white to grey.. Anyway, I don't really know what breed it is and I didn't take any pictures of it yet because I'm pretty busy these days. I also don't know what to name it yet. It's been 2 or 3 days already. It also keeps whimpering at night which makes me wake up from my sleep. This is actually my first time having a dog. All my previous pets were cats. This white-black dog is kind of small and I've been feeding milk to it.

I just want to ask some questions.. Should I take it to the vet as soon as possible? Should I cut I take it to a pet shop and cut its fur? What type of food brand should I buy? (People told me to buy Blue Buffalo but I couldn't find any at all..)

Can I also know the breed of this dog? It's ears are pointed up. It's eye s something like hazel colour. It's tail is like a golden retriever's tail (I don't really know what the tail name is called though). It is also a quite fluffy dog/puppy.

That's about it.. If you can tell me any more info about dogs (since I'm a beginner dog owner), please do.

Congratulations on your new pet! First thing to do is stop feeding it milk, dogs need water and a quality food, you need to go to a pet store to get a quality food they dont sell good food at walmart or the grocery ( in my case anyway) I wouldnt cut the hair unless it is matted, and yes a trip to the vets is in order and the vet will be able to clue you in to what breed it is. Good Luck!

Okay, then I'll take it to the vet tomorrow. The fur isn't matted. It was just some small furballs stuck to it.. I already bought a bag of food which has good quality this evening. I think this little dog looks like a West Highland Terrier to me though..

How kind of you to take the dog in and not leave it out on the streets.

Being the condition you found him in, I doubt his parents are looking for him, but it might be worth looking in your local lost and found section of the paper or putting up some flyers around town. It could be that he got away and just played in the mud! Your vet can scan him to see if he has a microchip in place as well.

I agree to stop giving him milk and start giving him water. Go to the pet store and get some high quality food for his size. I would try something like Royal Canian, Blue Buffalo, Bil Jac...etc.

Hopefully someone didn't abandon him and he just got lost somehow. Either way, great that you are giving him proper care.

I took this little white dog to the vet today. The vet checked it up (more than we expected). The vet said that this dog is a female and she needs to be fed up more. This vet told us that it's claws were too long and so she cut it short. The vet also recommended to buy de-worming tablets for this white pup and take it once a month. It costs RM120. (I live in Malaysia) There were also some fleas and ticks on this little dog and again, our vet recommended to get some anti-parasite spray or flea/tick collar. She said the spray was out of stock and the stock would be coming next week. Do you guys think I should buy the flea/tick collar? Because I heard from my friend who owned 3 dogs but somehow moved to cats now said that she bought different types of flea/tick collar and it didn't really work on her dogs last time.

And our vet said that this white pup is a West Highland Terrier. The black spots on it wasn't its fur color.. It was just some remaining dirt stuck to this Westie. It isn't microchipped at all. Well since my neighbour decided to follow me to the vet (he knows dogs really well) he already asked the vet to do those check ups which I didn't know about.

I'm sure the owners of this Westie didn't really take care of her well! It's just so cruel to see these animals in this condition. :( I wasn't really a dog lover but now I think I'm going to be both dogs and cats lover. :) Thanks for your information.

If the dog is a West highland white terrier(westie for short), it will need regular trips to the groomer for a hair cut. The cut is your choice, you can have him clipped short all over, Which is nice. As a groomer, a 5 blade on the back, 4blade legs is a nice short clip easy to maintain. You will only have to have him groomed about ever 3-4months in that kind of clip.

As far as fleas and tick, I have to agree with your friend, collars are usually useless. You could get Advantix, frontline, and other spot on treatments usually through your vet. Beware of the over the counter spot on treatments. I personally like natural defense as it is all natural and no chemical. Hartz and bio spot make one with the same chemicals as the vet ones, but they can cause problems(esp hartz has killed dogs). I did use biospot for a while, and liked it.

your food choice should be of good quality. Look at ingrediants, and stay away from alot of corn, same kind of grains and by-products. I good quality food will be a bit costly, about a USdollar per pound(not sure of currency exchange). There are many good foods out their. Innova, merrick, blue buffalo, chicken soup for the dog lovers soul, canine caviar, wellness, and the list goes on.

Enjoy your first baby, and westies were natural hunters, so they may like to chase small furry things. Show and once of love, and in return you will get a lifetime of kisses.

Hey guys thanks for all your information and tips!! I'm actually going really great with my Westie.. I haven't named it though.. I'm not really sure what to name it at all >.< Suggestions would be nice. Thanks Illusion for the grooming tip. My friend (who's the one that's good at dogs) told me to cut my Westie's hair like how you mentioned it. I don't mind the cost for good quality food. As long as my Westie is happy and healthy and lives a long life, we both would be really happy Man, this pet forums is so much more better than my previous one who gave me "crap" tips and informations. This Westie is already getting a good bond with me. My 3 tabby cats didn't get this close really fast..

And again thanks for all your information! And Suggestions for this White Westie would be good too.

Thanks for that suggestion but my friends from school already suggested some : 1)Snowie/Snowy 2)Snowflake 3)Winter 4)Avalanche 5)Cutie/Kewtie 6)Fluffy <- most common but I don't really like it 7)Oreo 8)Ivory <- sounds like a male name

From 1 to 4 was related to snow.. Didn't know why. Guess I would pick one of those among the 4.. My mother suggested to name her Winter or Avalanche (although it's kind of hot in my country (Malaysia)) But I think I'd pick Snowie.. I'm not really sure.

OMG, oxfordbostons!! I called up one of my friends.. Ahh, I'll just give out the name instead of calling her "one of my friends". Haha.. her name's Sarah. She has 2 dogs. She said one of them was a golden retriever and the other one was a mix breed which she didn't know yet. Ok, what she said was "Hey, what about Snowball or just Snowflake which I suggested yesterday?" and that name, Snowball was just going to be great for my new dog because before I bathed it or to simplify it, before I cared for it, it was a small grey-black dog and it was really thin (could see the ribs T_T and that's where I pitied it and took it home and cared for it) and it looked like a round ball. So yeah we talked for an hour about that name and she told me I should start training it early or it will end up in a bad, bad behaviour.

So, I'm not sure what to teach it.. She just told me to teach it the basics which I think is (like cats.. since I had 3 tabbies and I still have them. 2 of them. 1 got.. a decease and past away..) sit, paw(shake hands) and lie down. I've heard of stay too but I'm not sure how to teach my dog to stay. I never taught my cats to stay.

Snowball is going to be a great name. And thanks scout1 for suggesting the names too. Thanks everyone who helped here. Really made me have a head-start on this new dog when I'm just a starter.

I think what your friend meant by the basics is teaching Snowball sit, stay, down, come, leave and wait. Shake and give paw are usually things we think of as tricks, or fun things to teach your dog. You really want to teach her manners so that she doesn't develop any bad behaviors which would be harder to break once they are learned.

To teach sit you get a treat, say the word sit and either push down lightly on her behind to get her into sit position, or raise the treat over her head so she needs to lean backwards a bit which naturally puts them in a sit position.

To teach down, have her sit and then lower the treat to the ground while saying down. Or put the treat behind and in between her front legs so she has to bend her neck in between her front legs and that will lead her to lying down. If that doesn't work then make her sit and then bring the treat to the ground in front of her and when she bends down to get it drag it away from her til she is lying down.

Come is taught on a leash. When she gets a short distance from you tell her come and pull her towards you with the leash. Don't yank her towards you but put pressure on the leash and guide her to you. Down and come are the hardest things for them to do consistently well, especially come.

Once she has learned sit, teach her wait. When you go to feed her, make her sit while you put her food down. Then tell her wait before she goes to eat it. Let her wait a few seconds and tell her OK and allow her to eat. If she won't wait pull her food up and try again.

Leave it is done on leash also. Throw her favorite toy or a yummy treat onto the floor and then walk her on leash around the toy or treat and when she goes for it pull her away from it while saying leave it. Eventually you should be able to walk past the toy or treat and just say leave it without having to pull her away from it.

Stay is taught similiarily to wait but when you tell them to stay you want them to stay put for a period of time. Put her in a sit and say the word stay. Then walk about a foot away from her and turn to face her. If she gets up, repeat the exercise. Keep doing it until you can walk further and further away from her and she will stay put.

The stay, wait and leave it commands are the most versatile of all the commands you could teach her because they can be used in any number of situations, at any time, and could possibly save her life one day.

Make training fun and she will want to learn and please you !! good luck

Hey!! Thanks scout1!!!! I've already taught it sit. I read this a long time ago but I just wanted to see if Snowball can learn at this age. (It's 6 weeks old) Seems that it can and already learnt sit. Down and stay for Snowball is pretty hard.

Whenever I try stay, I tell it sit and walk away while saying stay but when I'm walking away from it, she'll just get up from her sitting position and walk with me. I've tried this more than 10 times and she still follows me when I walk away from her..

Well for down, I say sit. When it sits, I bring the treat between it's 2 front legs and drag it further but instead of lying down, it'll stand up on its 4 legs and try to take the treat away from my hand. It's bites doesn't hurt though since Snowball's just a puppy.

Come was okay for me. Sometimes it will listen and sometimes it won't. I said "Come Snowball" and she DOES walk to me but sometimes if she hears a noise or you could just say get distracted, it'll stop walking towards me and goes off with the thing that distracted it. Mostly like cars passing by the gate and my house has quite a few butterflies too. When a car passes by, it'll run to the gate and bark and when it sees a butterfly, she'll just.. walk to the butterfly or catch the butterfly. So the problem in "come" is distractions.

Well what can I say.. At least Snowball learns faster than my 3 tabbies.

Then for the stay just stand next to her for awhile. Then gradually work on moving away from her. She is only 6 weeks? Then I certainly wouldn't expect much from her right now. She has the attention span of a gnat at this age. As she gets older training will be easier because her ability to pay attention will increase.

(PS.... Do me a HUGE favor and stop referring to Snowball as "IT". I mean no disrespect in saying this but it just, I don't know, sounds terrible referring to a living creature as an IT lol thanks =) )

Yeah I know. I didn't expect much from a 6 week old puppy. Snowball still didn't learn how to down and stay.. but come has improved a whole bunch. Was training down and stay (together) for 30 minutes and come was for 1 hour. Those 30 minutes didn't really work.. now Snowball does it sometimes but mostly doesn't. If Snowball is going to be really easy to train when she's an adult, that would pay my work off.

Sorry, I'm just too used to saying "it" now. I've had 1 tabby cat and have 2 tabby cats and I won't be wanting to say those 2 names so mostly I say "it". :( And training for Snowball didn't go well today since I have sore throat and still have it. It's the worst I've ever had in my life. But at least come has improved which is the most important thing to learn.. right?

Oh yeah.. there's something strange about Snowball. She kept barking at the morning (It's night time here. At my country, Malaysia) and afternoon.. my neighbour complained to me Is the barking normal or.. is there something wrong?

Since they are terriers, they like little fuzzy animals. It is possible she is barking at an animal outside. She wants to get it. It is also possible she is trying to tell you it is time to get up and go potty. mine to that about 6-7am every morning. Thank god I wear hearing aids, so I don't hear them lol. Tell her quiet and a spray bottle filled with water usually works. Spray her and tell her quiet at the same time. Again it is just a training thing. She sounds smart as a whip, so I am sure she will get it soon. my kisses to Snowball

@illusionminis : I'll try that. I never heard of "spraying the dog with water to get it to learn something" before. Lol.

@catlover : When I went to the vet (the first time for this dog) and I said earlier that my neighbor followed me to the vet and he's really good in dogs. He asked the vet to do those check ups that I didn't know about. And it WASN'T microchipped too. I didn't see any posters of "lost dog" around my neighborhood. But I think that the previous owners wasn't taking care of Snowball well.. Or maybe some people could steal the dog and try to sell it(Snowball) but nobody bought the dog so he left it(Snowball) on the streets? Nobody really knows, actually. And if you say that I'm training it too long then I'll just decrease the time. To 10 minutes?

@NoDogYet : The vet told me Snowball was six years old.

Also I've been using the dog food : Artemis Large/Medium Breed Puppy I've seen the score on Wiley's Great List of Grading Foods but I was wondering if Snowball grows into an adult, what food should I change to? Since the name of the dog food clearly says "Puppy". And when will a dog become an adult?